


i died as i lived

by bipp_splapl



Series: to reckon [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Dead People, Gen, Injury, Internal Monologue, Introspection, Murder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Spoilers, this is a series about dead ppl this has so many spoilers just be aware, tw also for body horror and electricity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:40:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23814751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bipp_splapl/pseuds/bipp_splapl
Summary: so this is death.
Relationships: Fujisaki Chihiro & Kuwata Leon & Maizono Sayaka, Fujisaki Chihiro & Owada Mondo, Kuwata Leon & Maizono Sayaka, Kuwata Leon & Oowada Mondo
Series: to reckon [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715428
Comments: 2
Kudos: 68





	i died as i lived

_“....What?!”_

Sayaka and Leon anxiously glanced at each other, unsure what to say. The baseball player quickly shoved his hands in his back pockets and looked away with a long whistle. Sayaka stared at the back of Leon’s head for a second, her eyes steely, before turning back towards Mondo with a feeble smile. 

“Your afterlife,” Sayaka stated again, clear and confident. “There isn’t much need for elaborat-”

“Like _hell_ there ain’t _,”_ Mondo scoffed, going to run a hand through his hair only to pull it back with a not-so-manly yelp. Something _bit_ him. Or stung him, or knicked. Not like a punch or a thud, but something small and sharp. Gingerly, he reached up to experiment with his hair again, only to pull back after a sharp sting. 

“Static.” The baseball player pointed at Mondo’s pompadour. “Your hair’s standing up stiff as a board without any products, s’gotta be static.” 

“Why’d it do that...” Mondo started to ask, but his voice drifted off when he noticed the cold eyes (er, _eye_ ) staring him down.

“Your execution, idiot,” Leon said plainly, before softening his voice in a patronizing way. “People change based on the way they died….c’mon, don’t tell me you don’t remember?”

_Execution._

_Execution._

**Oh fuck-**

Lights. There were lights. Bright lights, brighter than the ones he saw in Harajuku the time he visited for gang business Crazy Diamonds. Back when Daiya ~~Daiya~~ was still alive. The color was hyper-saturated, burnt into the back of his eyes, and he couldn’t get them to disappear, no matter how hard he rubbed-

_Phosphene. Phosphene. Phosphene._

There was a stinging pain, one that wouldn’t go away, that burnt itself through his body and seemed to permeate his bloodstream and nerves. The spasms were uncontrollable, and he was almost glad he was zip-tied to the bike, at least something was holding him down, keeping him from falling off and writhing out of control in that electric cage, the spasms, the spasms-

_Phosphene. Phosphene. Phosphene._

There was a ringing. A sharp ringing, one that wouldn’t ever end. There was the smell of metal. The smell of burning. The smell of metal and burning, _Christ_ _, he was burning-_

_Phosphene. Phosphene. Phosphene._

The last thing he remembered were the lights.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Mondo came to, he had collapsed on the ground again. This time he chose not to open his eyes, not yet. Instead, he just wanted to lie still, very still, and take everything in. What did he notice? Mondo felt….numb. The way he felt when he sat on his bike the wrong way, and his thigh fell asleep. But the fuzziness was all over. There was a quiet ringing in the background. Something he didn’t notice before because his mind was going too fast. Maybe something he won’t notice again until he’s by himself stuck alone with his thoughts. There was the distinct taste of metal in his mouth.

Above he could hear Sayaka chewing Leon’s ear off, something about how he ‘ _totally screwed this one up, the poor man was in shock.’_ Shock. Mondo groaned at the word. His two classmates snapped their attention downwards, watching with curiosity as the biker rubbed his eyes. 

Sayaka held up a small hand towards Leon as if to say _buzz off_ before kneeling down by Mondo’s side. “I’m glad to see you’re awake, Oowada-kun. Do you need anything? A glass of water, maybe?”

Mondo tried to squint open his eyes to look at her, but the light reflecting off her unnaturally pale skin made his head hurt. Flopping his head back down, he sighed. “Water’d be fine. And maybe…” he thought, “...a pair of sunglasses?”

The two stared at Mondo blankly for a moment before Sayaka made a _shoo_ motion, not even looking back. Instantly Leon turned on his heel, trotting off for the odd requests. Not like he was in the mood to explain mortality, anyways.

With a smile, Sayaka gently pat one of Mondo’s rough hands. “I do not want to disturb you anymore, Oowada-kun, so I will be frank - you are dead.”

At those words, everything shattered. So he really did kill...and it wasn’t a…. _goddammit_ , he’s killed two of his brothers. And what of Taka, the pain in his eyes seared into the back of his skull as he was dragged away, the same as those flashing lights, _phosphene, phosphene-_

“Oowada-kun!” Sayaka’s voice called out, tinkly like a bell. She gently placed both of her hands on the biker’s shoulders, trying to steady his tremors. “You’re alright now! It’s over, the killing game is over for you! So please, just breathe-”

“IIIIIIIIIII got the glasses!” Leon called out, seemingly without a care in the world. Almost as if they’re not dead, this isn’t the afterlife, he’s not missing an eye, and that there isn’t a sash around Sayaka’s stomach that, _oh, that’s covering her stab wound aint' it, that’s why she’s so pale, the blood loss,_ **_oh I’m going to be fuckin’ sick-_ **

A glass was held up to his lips, gently pushing back, urging him to take a sip. Too tired to resist, he cracked his lips open just wide enough for a trickle of water. It was...the most refreshing thing he had ever tasted. Water was sweet. Mondo didn't realize water could do that. Hands shaking, he took the glass from Sayaka’s hands and chugged it down, desperate for each and every last drop.

“God, no wonder the guy’s thirsty, being fried like that must’ve been pretty brut- _OWW_!” Leon yelled, grabbing his shin, which must have accidentally crossed the path of Sayaka’s elbow. It was at no fault of her own if he got hit.

Swallowing the last of the cup down, he sighed in relief. Having something in his system helped steady the shakiness, at least a little. Carefully, Mondo took the sunglasses and put them on. He braced for a wince when he opened his eyes, but luckily, nothing came. Blinking a few times, he turned towards Sayaka, finally able to look at her without pain. 

“S’this….this is it, huh? I’m, uh, dead? ” Mondo stated more than asked. At the forefront of his voice was defeat. Somewhere, far, far back, was a sense of relief. Of finality. Sayaka nodded her head. “So this...this is uh….am I in….hea-ven...? I didn’t think I’d, uh, get there. Here. _Christ..._ ”

Sayaka giggled the way only a pop sensation could. Artificial. Something you’d hear out of a toy’s voice box. “Truth be told, we don’t understand it much ourselves! But from what I gathered, everyone comes here and finds a place where they can grow at their own pace. Only the truly evil ones are sent away.”

“Like the mastermind?” Mondo muttered through clenched teeth, instinctively flexing his hands.

“Oh,” Leon said blankly, picking at something in his teeth. “You mean Enoshima Junko, right? Oh yea, that dirtbag’s totally going to burn in the pits of hell.”

“ _....what...?_ ”

“Enoshima Junko. Hello? Earth to Mondo, do you read me?” Leon said, sticking out his tongue at the biker… _and instantly regretting it when he glared back ohmygod!!!_

“OH! I see the issue here. That execution? Ikusaba Mukuro, Enoshima’s twin sister. Yea, no, they were our classmates but like, totally brainwashed us and forced us into a killing game for their own pleasure or whatever. Shit’s fucked, dude.”

Mondo looked back blankly, his lavender eyes filled with confusion. How? What? But the executio- **….brainwashing?!**

“Kuwata-kun, you cannot seriously expect to throw this information at people and for them to understand!” Sayaka exclaimed with a little more passion than she normally emotes.

“Whaaaat?” Leon said, rubbing the back of his head. “He’s dead, there’s no intrigue anymore. Skip the exposition, read the SparkNotes. It’s all the same in the end. Because this is it! The end!”

Leon’s gaze wandered away from his classmates, looking around at the courtyard garden around them. His eye kept drifting until his sharp gaze caught sight of a shadowy figure, reading under a tree in the far corner. “That’s Ikusaba over there,” he muttered, yanking his shoulder in her general direction. “Can’t stand how she’s sticking around here, but I can’t say I’m surprised. Though I won’t pretend like I’m going out of my way to make her feel welcomed after what she did...”

Sayaka shifted anxiously on her legs, uncomfortable by Junko- (well, Mukuro’s) presence. “She is the Ultimate Soldier. I don’t feel particularly _safe_ with her aroun-” 

“It’s not even that!” Leon exclaims, his hands popping out of his pockets and waving around. Has he always talked this much with his hands? Mondo never noticed before, but why should he? You alway assume you’d have more time with a guy to pick up the quirks. “Even if she wasn’t totally evil, I don’t trust her bein’ in love with a relative and all that. Reminds me too much of...uh…. _never mind, it just freaks me out!_ ”

Another tinkling laugh, this time at the expense of another. It was so strange, watching the two of them….talk? Be friendly, exchange pleasantries, act like one of them didn’t kill the other in cold blood? It had to have happened. No other explanation as to why the two idiots were dead covered in all the telltale signs to prove it.

“...you two are supposed to hate each other.”

Mondo looked back and forth from Leon to Sayaka, albeit he wasn’t sure if they could tell with the sunglasses over his pale eyes. The laughter stopped, turning into an uncomfortable silence. Then with a sense of purpose, Sayaka stood up and dusted herself off, placing herself next to Leon. 

“Kuwata-kun was telling the truth when he said it was an accident,” she announced with a brave face. Still, a waiver of doubt could be heard. “I- ….. tried to frame Makoto for Leon’s death.”

Leon scoffed, shifting his weight. He instinctively shoved his hands in his pockets. Must be an anxious thing. “When I got there, I thought Sayaka wanted to like, talk music with me, or like, kiss or somethin, n-not that I really wanted to, but, y’know. Teenage stuff. When she pulled out the knife, I totally freaked.”

“When he unlocked the bathroom, he was trying to calm me down, not hurt me. I was still wildly thrashing the knife around, and he had to hold it away from me.” 

“In the fit of the moment, Sayaka broke out of my arms and…”

“...ran right into it...” 

“...but because there’s no cameras in the bathroom…”

“...all Monokuma saw was Leon entering the bathroom, sounds of a fight, and him leaving my body behind. Everything else was assumed.”

“It’s like I said in the trial,” Leon said coldly, staring straight at Mondo. There was a bite previously unheard. For the first time the twig seemed menacing. “I was unlucky. Could’ve been any of you.”

 _...damn._

The pop sensation cleared her voice, pulling Mondo out of his thoughts. “As Leon and I were the first two to die… well, the first two who anyone could trust, we figured it would be best if we were to welcome you to this world. After all, you were awfully frightened when arriving here, even with our help. We don’t want anyone to go through with it alone again…” _Again..._

“And seriously, don’t worry about it, dude - I knew I looked guilty as all hell up there,” Leon said with a sad smile, almost more to convince himself than the others. “A- and...I guess I would have rather been one of me than a shitton of youse, r-right? Right! I died as I lived.”

“Horny?” Sayaka smiled, to which Leon made a gagging noise and elbowed her in the side, before immediately stammering an apology about her whole, uh, hole thing. _Huh,_ Mondo thought to himself. _Guess it wasn’t that._

“I believe Leon was going to say ‘balls on the mind,’” a small voice came from behind the group. A voice...Mondo knew but didn’t want to face, not yet. 

Leon lit up, sliding past Mondo to greet his ~~their~~ friend. “Hell yea squirt, you can read me like a book! You sure you’re not psychic, too?” 

There was no denying the person, no, _man_ standing behind him. Only one possible “squirt” here, and it was the absolute last person Oowada Mondo wanted to see right now. Feeling himself shaking, Mondo turned around slowly, bowing his head by instinct, not even looking up out of shame. 

Fujisaki Chihiro was a better man than he’d ever been.

**Author's Note:**

> like i said, im heavily inspired by the 2011 manga (created by spike as a supplement! supposed to show what actually happened without makoto! canon! leon is a good boy albeit very greasy!) basically recounts the actual murder plot point by plot point. i rlly wanted to get out the first two chapters today, after like the first four chapters it becomes actually stand alone. the first four parts are definitely like. necessary for establishing context and run into each other. things will slow down after that dw.
> 
> i finished drafting out this fuckin hunk of a story, its looking to be 30+ parts. some are longer than others. im pissed at myself for placing literally. my favorite part of the anthology like. far in. bc i want it NOW. but it will not make sense story wise or for context now. its one to be sat on. annoyingly. ugh. that on me tho
> 
> proud to say chihiro got the best line of dialogue i have or ever will write. like i said! i want to see how the kids will change after death. i think chihiro would be emboldened, at least a little more. nothing to lose but your chains. those are now loss. you'll see.


End file.
